Daniel Canogar
Audio By Carbonatix
A coalition of educators, city officials, business owners and creatives has been formed to raise the profile of the arts and entertainment industry in Dallas. It represents the first Next Generation Sector Partnership focused on regional development of the arts, and has been co-convened by Dallas College and Kessler Presents.
NextGen Sector partnerships, championed by the Institute for Networked Communities, are designed to promote growth and sustainability within regional industries. The partnerships are collaborative and rely on the engagement of public and private sector stakeholders in education and the workforce to achieve their objectives.
Their aim is to develop and promote regional events, create broader career opportunities for individuals, and address challenges specific to a given industry. Currently, 20 states have at least one active partnership, and healthcare, manufacturing and technology are examples of industries that have traditionally benefited from the NextGen model.
Dallas College is encouraging the development of multiple-sector partnerships. Benjamin Magill, the school’s Associate Vice Chancellor of economic opportunity, is helping drive the initiative. Magill says that the school has launched NextGen groups for biotech, manufacturing, freight mobility and logistics, construction, and arts and entertainment. Additional Partnerships focused on business/finance, technology, aviation and aerospace and healthcare are planned.
While the college is heavily engaged in this process, Magill says they see their role as more of a “catalyst” for action than the leaders of these groups.
“We think this needs to happen, we want to make sure it happens, but what we’re building is truly a shared table,” Magill says. When each Sector Partnership has its quarterly meetings, Magill says Dallas College is not driving the agenda, instead focusing on supporting and addressing the issues brought up by industry participants.
“The goal … is just to create a more consistent ongoing dialogue between all the parties involved,” Magill says.
Ahava Silkey-Jones, Vice Provost for the School of Creative Arts, Entertainment and Design at Dallas College, has been helping launch the Arts & Entertainment Next Gen Sector Partnership alongside Dr. Joseph Seabrooks, President of Dallas College’s Cedar Valley Campus.
“It’s been electric,” says Silkey-Jones. “It’s a lot of really dynamic, high energy, passionate, visionary people that really want to see the arts and culture sector in Dallas continue to thrive.”
Frankie Garcia III, owner of FGIII Fine Art Productions, is a local artist who has become engaged with the Next Gen initiative. He says that a major benefit of the partnership is that it has brought together artists from across disciplines to work toward a common goal.
“A lot of times, [artists] don’t have an opportunity to collaborate because we are on the grind and we’re securing funds and finding sponsors … so we don’t really have an opportunity to step away from that grind and connect,” says Garcia.
The individuals who attended the most recent quarterly meeting for the partnership in January represented the breadth of Dallas’ artistic community. City officials, creatives and media groups were all present to discuss the three primary action items the Arts & Entertainment Sector Partnership is focused on: creating a signature event (like SXSW) for Dallas, developing funding models for artists and the arts community, and building a pipeline, resources and tools for working artists.
No More Starving Artists
Garcia says that the work the Sector Partnership is doing will provide much-needed support for up-and-coming artists. Through FGIII he has shared his journey and how he built his career with the artists he works with, mentoring them on where to focus their time and energy to achieve success. With the braintrust behind the Arts & Entertainment NextGen Sector Partnership trying to formalize and expand that type of support, he thinks it will help people transition into working in Dallas’ arts community easier.
“By us coming together, we hope to … make it easier for artists to be elevated and provide them platforms where they are elevated and seen and represented at a proper level,” he says.
Joshua King is co-founder of Dallas-based arts organization AURORA, which is also participating in the Sector Partnership. King says that having a group of people in or around the arts come together to see what their role and impact should be in cultivating art within Dallas is a worthwhile endeavor driving innovation and evolution. But he adds that the city has to support their efforts to help them effect real change.
“What I see is a lot of great people who have created and made things happen,” says King. “But then it comes into a city, and that’s the major part, is our city has to come in there and say, ‘Hey, let us help,’ and take us over the finish line.”
It is still early in the Arts & Entertainment Sector Partnership’s lifecycle. They had a kickoff meeting in late 2024 and their January quarterly meeting, and they created “action groups” to tackle their various objectives. More than 20 institutions (including the City of Dallas) were represented at their last meeting, and Silkey-Jones says she expects more to join in and support their efforts.
AURORA will host its fourth Video Art Night on April 11 at the AT&T Discovery District. FGIII Fine Art Productions is currently presenting Material Realities at the Intersection of Process and Identity from Cedars Union Cohort IV at SPACE at Adolphus Tower.
“Right now, we have a lot of different arts areas represented, but I definitely think there’s an opportunity for more to plug in,” Silkey-Jones says. “Especially if they are looking to be innovative and want to be at the forefront of this next decade of art sector development in Dallas.”
Organizations interested in supporting the Next Gen Sector Partnerships championed by Dallas College can contact Benjamin Magill at bmagill@dallascollege.edu.